Device 6 Preview

Forget what you know about text-based narrative adventures

Developer Simogo has officially unveiled their next mobile project this week, and it’s being made by the same key people who had a hand in crafting this year’s haunting and atmospheric masterpiece Year Walk. The new game is called Device 6, and is described as “a surreal thriller in which the written word is your map, as well as your narrator.” And if those early screenshots and descriptions are anything to go by, I fully believe this one could very well reinvent the way we experience visual novels or text-based adventures completely.

Device 6 is said to take many conventions of gaming, literature, and even geography to form an incredibly unique text-focused adventure, where every action and decision in the game plays a crucial part in how the overall story will actually unfold. And what is this story about, you say? Well so far, we know it’s about a girl named Anna, who wakes up in a mysterious castle on an isolated island with no recollection of how she ended up there. With thematic elements that circle around technology and neuroscience, players will also encounter an identical second castle on the very same island, and a strange man in a bowler hat who puts Anna through all sorts of harrowing trials.

Of course, the real magic of playing Year Walk was found in never quite knowing what to expect, and so the developers are still keeping pretty tight-lipped about the finer narrative details in their thrilling gaming novella. Simogo says that a lot of what eventually became Device 6 was actually inspired by the text-heavy Year Walk companion app, which served as a sort of digital history book to all of the fictional background and lore that made up the world of that game. However, it should also be noted that there are still just as many core gameplay aspects in addition to all of that reading and storytelling in Device 6, and you’ll even be able to hear tons of audio clips that correspond to specific events in the narrative as you read them.

Even with all the information we have to go off of so far, it’s clear that Device 6 is still pretty well shrouded in mystery. Simogo is already teasing a few surprises that will be in store for those of us who embark on this fresh and original adventure. But if the game is anywhere near the sheer emotional impact and mobile excellence of Year Walk, then I think we’re all going to be in for quite the treat. Device 6 is currently slated for a hopeful release on iOS devices by the end of the year.